Who’s who at Democratic convention

Bill Clinton and Julian Castro — party’s old and new — featured

WASHINGTON (MarketWatch) — Women, minorities and the next generation of party leaders will share the stage with President Obama as Democrats convene in Charlotte, N.C., to lay out their roadmap for November.

With the polls tight, Democrats aim to retain the White House by reconstituting a diverse bloc of voters that harks back to Jesse Jackson’s famous Rainbow Coalition. Polls show Obama with a decided edge among blacks, gays, women, Latinos and younger voters.

The convention lineup will also contain an older face. Former President Bill Clinton has been enlisted to help remind noncollege voters, especially whites, of the party’s support for the working class.

Here’s a look at some of the speakers Democrats will showcase in Charlotte.

Michelle Obama. The president’s wife, a lawyer with degrees from Princeton and Harvard universities, has followed the pattern of most first ladies by avoiding controversial issues. She has focused her time on healthier eating and support for military families and is more popular in the polls than her husband. Yet Michelle Obama, 48, is now hitting the road frequently in a bid to shore up support among the party’s faithful while reaching out to independents.

Barack Obama hasn’t always seen eye to eye with Bill Clinton, but he’s given the ex-president a plum role.

She’s told voters her husband will do a better job to protect the middle class and make sure Americans have access to affordable health care.

Bill Clinton. The two-term president has had a rocky relationship with President Obama, but he will formally nominate the current commander in chief on Wednesday. Clinton’s popularity has risen sharply since he left office in 2001, and polls indicate he is looked upon fondly by middle-class voters who remember the prosperity of his time in office.

Obama is particularly vulnerable among white working-class voters and would like to associate his policies with those of Clinton.

Yet Republicans spot an opportunity to argue Obama is well to the left of the nation’s 42nd president. In other words, he is no Bill Clinton.

Elizabeth Warren. The Wall Street critic is running for the Senate seat in Massachusetts that belonged to Ted Kennedy for 47 years. She is expected to defend Obama’s attempt to fix flaws in the U.S. financial system linked to the 2007 panic and following recession. Warren, a Harvard professor and bankruptcy expert, is likely to suggest the reforms will protect consumers from shady financial dealings.

Reuters

Elizabeth Warren is loved by liberals but appears to be an underdog in her Senate race vs. the GOP’s Scott Brown.

Yet the nationally known Warren, a darling in liberal circles, is a lightning rod for criticism and may have trouble appealing to independents. She trails by five or six percentage points the moderate Republican incumbent, Scott Brown in the most recent pair of Massachusetts polls. Brown appears to have a big lead among unaffiliated voters.

Julián Castro. The polished 37-year-old mayor of San Antonio, viewed as one of the party’s rising stars, is set to deliver the keynote address Tuesday. The son of a Mexican-American civil-rights advocate, Castro is the first keynote speaker of Latino background for either party. Obama needs to win that group by a wide margin to ensure his re-election.

San Antonio Mayor Julián Castro is viewed as a rising star in the Democratic party.

As mayor, Castro has focused on improving the city’s education and trying to attract businesses dependent on a well-educated workforce in areas such as green energy and biotech. Although Castro has only been mayor for three years and is all but unknown outside Texas, the keynote is often a launching pad for young and aspiring politicians. Obama himself gave a well-received keynote speech at the Democratic convention in 2004 that put him on a fast-track to the White House. Castro’s twin brother, Joaquín, is a member of the state legislature who’s running for Congress in November.

Sandra Fluke. The activist Georgetown University student became the subject of national uproar in February after conservative radio host Rush Limbaugh called her a “slut” for her support of contraceptive mandates in Obama’s health-care law. Limbaugh’s remarks drew widespread condemnation, and he was forced to apologize. The 30-year-old Fluke has been a frequent advocate of contraceptive coverage, a feature lacking in Georgetown’s health-care plan. Her story may help Democrats with young women and feeds into accusations that Republicans are waging a war on women.

Kamala Harris. The first female attorney general in California history is a longtime friend of Barack Obama’s — and potential future governor. Her election in 2010 made her one of the most prominent Democrats in the nation’s largest state. Harris, 47, also happens to be both African American and Asian American, groups that Democrats seek to win by large margins in November. Harris has targeted polluters, hate criminals and lenders seeking to foreclose on delinquent homeowners — a reprise of the Main Street vs. Wall Street dichotomy Democrats have cultivated.

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